Frustrated..

[Mark Kim]

he said that since I still have nerve pain based on the movement I make with my spine, ADR will not be appropriate. He said that failed microdisectomies usually require a fusion, ALIF surgery to stabilize everything. I'm sorry i couldn't explain it further. I was getting depressed during the examination and forgot all the medical aspects of my condition when he was explaining why I was not a candidate for ADR.

[Mark Kim]

I recently did an MRI, CT SCAN, and EMG in Los Angeles. Basically, i went to a consultation with one of the big neurosurgeons in Los Angeles and I was told that there is a tear in my disc which didn't heal from the microlumbardisectomy done 5 years ago. The fissure (tear) is right near the nerve and that is why it is producing the sciatica pain down my left leg.

I had a question to anyone who else has had this problem? I was given 3 options. One- i can live with the pain and eventually the disc will dry out causing no more pain. However, this can take forever. I can get a microlumbardisektomy revision with a device that can potentially try to heal the tear but it is 70%. The other option is a ALIF which is 99% success but it is a fusion. An artificial disc was talked about but not recommended due to the low success rate in the l5-s1 area. I was wondering if anyone had any experience with this and could offer some advice. I am contemplating the revision but wanted to know if this would be a good idea.

thanks

[Harrison]

Mark, this is a tough one that many people have battled with mixed results. To get you started, pls do a search using these terms search utility above):

annular fissure or annular tear

You can limit the results to the title bar as well.

I really don't know where your providers got the information about ADR at L5-S1!? Many folks within this community have had good outcomes at this level. What's up with that?!